The present disclosure relates to a mount-demount mechanism for a unit that is mountable on and demountable from a main body of an image forming apparatus, and to an image forming apparatus that includes the mount-demount mechanism.
Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus that uses an electro-photographic process, a fix unit, a drum unit, a development unit, an intermediate transfer unit and the like are fixed to predetermined positions in the image forming apparatus by means of screws. On the other hand, it is necessary to demount these units from a main body of the image forming apparatus for a paper-sheet jam resolving time. Besides, in a case where the service life of the units is shorter than the life of the apparatus main body, it is necessary to replace periodically the units.
In the above conventional structure, at a unit replacement time or a paper-sheet jam resolving time, it is necessary to contact a service person, which is inefficient. On the other hand, it is a large burden on a general user to perform a mount-demount work of a unit by means of tools such as a screw driver and the like. Accordingly, a method, which allows a user to easily perform the unit replacement work, is proposed and a structure is widely used, in which a unit is inserted or drawn out along a guide shape that is disposed in the image forming apparatus main body.
For example, a mount-demount mechanism for a development device is known, in which a guide member is disposed between two rollers situated on a rail surface of the apparatus main body, and an inclination of a development device is confined in a predetermined range during mount-demount times of the development device, whereby a photoreceptor is not damaged by members such as a development roll and the like.
Besides, an image forming apparatus is known, which includes a pair of first inclination guide portions that have a downward inclination for guiding a guide shaft of a unit that includes a photoreceptor, and a second inclination guide portion that is disposed between the pair of first inclination guide portions and has a downward inclination in the same direction as the first inclination guide portion to guide a bottom surface of the unit, wherein when the unit comes to an insertion stop position, a rear portion of the unit is rotated downward, whereby the unit is able to be housed and fixed in a housing portion.
As described above, in the structure in which the unit is inserted into and drawn out from the image forming apparatus main body, because of a request for compactness of the device and a restriction on a layout and the like, there is a case where other units and components are present in insertion and drawing out routes of the unit.
In such a case, it becomes necessary to perform the insertion and drawing out operations of the target unit avoiding the other units and components, so that the locus of the insertion and drawing out routes does not become straight and becomes complicated. Besides, the insertion and drawing out operations of the unit become onerous. Further, there is a problem that positioning accuracy of the unit in the image forming apparatus main body becomes low, a defective mesh between gears and an image trouble become likely to occur.